Tips and Tricks

Here, I have my 1987 Savage mounted on a Sears motorcycle jack.  It does a fine job, elevating it up to a maximum of about 18 inches (460 mm) off the floor.  However, a wood shim was needed at the jack location just behind the transmission to get it level.  You can see it on the rear jack point.  A piece of 1" H x 4" W x 6" L works out just right.  (Actual thickness is 3/4" (19mm), nowadays they take a raw 1" thick board and sand an 1/8" inch on each side so finished thickness is less.)

Perils of tire alignment, something to watch out for all tires, expecially wider ones.

This is the Kenda Challenger 130/90H-15 tire, right side.  This is how it should look.

This is the left side of the same rear tire.  Notice how the tread edge has been ground off.

Here's the culprit, a bolt head from a bolt that mounts the saddle bag guard.  When I installed the saddlebag guard, it required a longer bolt, so I bought a metric one from the hardware store.  The saddlebag guard mounting lug is about 3/16 inch (4.8 mm) thick.  Flat washer is another 1/16 inch (1.6 mm) thick.  Combined thickness of about 1/4" (6.4 mm) was enough with tire slightly offset to the left, rub against the bolt head when suspension was depressed, for a total loss of 1/2" or 12.8 mm of under fender clearance.  I removed the washer from both saddle bag guard lugs. It pays to check vertical tire alignment and centering, prior to riding.  Although the Kenda tire is a 130/90 (130 mm wide x 90% tall from rim saddle), it seems to be larger than that, there didn't seem to be much difference between the OEM IRC 140/80 tire and the Kenda. You can see where I brazed the forward lug, new saddle bag guard broke at that location shortly after I installed it, probably a manufacturing weakness at the bend.

Tachometer and Sigma BC-800 Bicycle Speedometer

The Sigma BC-800 Bicycle Speedometer Computer is mounted next to my generic aftermarket tachometer for Harley-Davidson.  The BC-800 is calibrated based on front tire road contact circumference.  A sensor is installed at the lower end of the front fork and a magnet is glued to the wheel hub.  This computer gives me a trip odometer, a must for gaging fuel stops.  Shown is the clock display, which it defaults to after about 10 minutes.  Besides lapse time it also has an odometer setting used for accumulated mileage, which can be reset and used for determining say, next oil change.  Best thing about the speedometer besides its better accuracy than the OEM one is I don't have to dip my head to see it with my full face helmet on.

BC800 sensor held with O-Rings and Radio-Shack magnet "JB Welded" to hub.  Not the most secure arrangement, I'll correct this in the near future.

Suzuki S40 Pillow Gel Seat

Interestingly enough, the Suzuki S40 Pillow Gel Seat fits the old 1987 Savage.  There is one fitment mod that must be made to make it work.  Suzuki retained the nylon seat front tang and rider seat bracket mounts.  However, the pillion portion at the rear has a chromed bracket lug about 1-1/2 inches long, with a hole for a 6-mm metric bolt.  The wire pillion bracket is not used.  This requires drilling a hole in the fender and mounting a bolt with chrome acorn nut.  As metric acorn nuts are hard to come by in the US, I'm going to use a 1/4 inch dia. bolt and acorn nut, which should work.

If you look closely, you might be able to make out the bracket tang for securing the back of the pillion seat, it is now floating about 1/2 inch above the fender.  When I get around to removing the trunk, I'll drill the fender and secure it with that bolt.